The Museum of Human Disease at UNSW in Sydney is Australia’s first museum dedicated to human health… or lack thereof. Listed as one of the world’s 10 weirdest museums by CNN, the museum – which displays real organs and body parts – is the only dedicated medical pathology collection in Australia that is completely open to the public.
The museum began as a collection for training medical students, until a pathology professor thought it would also be useful in educating the wider community. Today, its 2,500+ specimens, including brains, lungs and body tissue, cover nearly everything that kills us in Australia and demonstrate hundreds of diseases and their complications.
Such diseases include heart attacks and strokes, cancer, diabetes, genetic diseases and the effects of drugs and alcohol on the body. Each exhibit is accompanied by a detailed clinical history of the ill-fated donor patient.
There are also displays on diseases long forgotten, those we bring on ourselves and predicted diseases of the future.
‘It’s so important to understand how diseases work – especially during a pandemic,’ says Museum Director Derek Williamson. ‘By learning more about past outbreaks and how they affect the body, we can also learn why some diseases are coming back.’
Overcoming past epidemics
Diphtheria – a contagious disease that has almost disappeared in Australia – was once an epidemic. In the early 1900s, it was the deadliest infectious disease in Australia.
The bacteria responsible for diphtheria, Corynebacterium diphtheria, is spread via coughing and sneezing. Once caught, the bacteria releases a toxin that infects a person’s upper airways and can cause a membrane to grow across the windpipe. Anyone can be infected by this disease, but it is mostly seen in children.
The windpipe of one child who had diphtheria – a nine-year-old boy who died from the disease in 1960 – is on display in the museum.
‘All of our displays are sombre, but some, like this one, are extra painful,’ says Williamson. ‘They tell important stories for us to learn from – stories that we might have forgotten as diseases like this have become less visible.’
Thanks to vaccinations, diphtheria has become very rare in Australia, but occasional cases do occur.
‘If people don’t vaccinate or maintain vaccinations, deadly diseases like this one might re-emerge – and we could see more preventable deaths like this poor boy’s.’
Making better health decisions
While a confronting experience, it can be transforming for people to come face to face with real diseases, says Williamson.
During his time working at the museum, he says he has seen many visitors become motivated to make better health decisions, whether it’s by improving their diet, increasing exercise, or making other lifestyle choices.
‘The emphysema display in particular has impacted a lot of people,’ he says. We’ve had people visit the museum as smokers and leave as non-smokers. They’ve contacted us – months later – to say that the display stuck with them.
‘This is the power of objects. Seeing the real thing can help bring home the anti-smoking messages they’ve seen elsewhere.
‘We hope that the museum – and now the virtual museum – can help more people learn about their bodies, how they can be affected by disease, and how to best look after them.’ AMP
*Source: newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/ The museum is slated to reopen in January 2021. In the meantime, you can roam the space virtually at diseasemuseum.med.unsw.edu.au
